Misrepresenting someone’s argument to make it easier
to attack.
Presuming that a real or perceived relationship between
things means that one is the cause of the other.
Manipulating an emotional response in place of a valid
or compelling argument.
Presuming a claim to be necessarily wrong because a
fallacy has been committed.
By exaggerating, misrepresenting, or just completely fabricating someone's
argument, it's much easier to present your own position as being reasonable,
but this kind of dishonesty serves to undermine rational debate.
Many people confuse correlation (things happening together or in sequence)
for causation (that one thing actually causes the other to happen). Sometimes
correlation is coincidental, or it may be attributable to a common cause.
Appeals to emotion include appeals to fear, envy, hatred, pity, guilt, and more.
Though a valid, and reasoned, argument may sometimes have an emotional
aspect, one must be careful that emotion doesn’t obscure or replace reason.
It is entirely possibly to make a claim that is false yet argue with logical
coherency for that claim, just as is possible to make a claim that is true and
justify it with various fallacies and poor arguments.
After Will said that we should put more money into health and education,
Warren responded by saying that he was surprised that Will hates our country
so much that he wants to leave it defenceless by cutting military spending.
Pointing to a fancy chart, Roger shows how temperatures have been rising over
the past few centuries, whilst at the same time the numbers of pirates have
been decreasing; thus pirates cool the world and global warming is a hoax.
Luke didn’t want to eat his sheep’s brains with chopped liver and brussels
sprouts, but his father told him to think about the poor, starving children in a
third world country who weren’t fortunate enough to have any food at all.
Recognising that Amanda had committed a fallacy in arguing that we should
eat healthy food because a nutritionist said it was popular, Alyse said we
should therefore eat bacon double cheeseburgers every day.
Asserting that if we allow A to happen, then Z will
consequently happen too, therefore A should not happen.
Attacking your opponent’s character or personal traits in
an attempt to undermine their argument.
Avoiding having to engage with criticism by turning it
back on the accuser - answering criticism with criticism.
Saying that because one finds something difficult to
understand, it’s therefore not true.
The problem with this reasoning is that it avoids engaging with the issue at
hand, and instead shifts attention to baseless extreme hypotheticals. The merits
of the original argument are then tainted by unsubstantiated conjecture.
Ad hominem attacks can take the form of overtly attacking somebody, or casting
doubt on their character. The result of an ad hom attack can be to undermine
someone without actually engaging with the substance of their argument.
Literally translating as ‘you too’ this fallacy is commonly employed as an
effective red herring because it takes the heat off the accused having to
defend themselves and shifts the focus back onto the accuser themselves.
Subjects such as biological evolution via the process of natural selection
require a good amount of understanding before one is able to properly grasp
them; this fallacy is usually used in place of that understanding.
Colin Closet asserts that if we allow same-sex couples to marry, then the next
thing we know we’ll be allowing people to marry their parents, their cars and
even monkeys.
After Sally presents an eloquent and compelling case for a more equitable
taxation system, Sam asks the audience whether we should believe anything
from a woman who isn’t married, was once arrested, and smells a bit weird.
Nicole identified that Hannah had committed a logical fallacy, but instead of
addressing the substance of her claim, Hannah accused Nicole of committing
a fallacy earlier on in the conversation.
Kirk drew a picture of a fish and a human and with effusive disdain asked Richard
if he really thought we were stupid enough to believe that a fish somehow
turned into a human through just, like, random things happening over time.
Moving the goalposts or making up exceptions when a
claim is shown to be false.
Asking a question that has an assumption built into it so
that it can’t be answered without appearing guilty.
Saying that the burden of proof lies not with the person
making the claim, but with someone else to disprove.
Using double meanings or ambiguities of language to
mislead or misrepresent the truth.
Humans are funny creatures and have a foolish aversion to being wrong.
Rather than appreciate the benefits of being able to change one’s mind
through better understanding, many will invent ways to cling to old beliefs.
Loaded question fallacies are particularly effective at derailing rational debates
because of their inflammatory nature - the recipient of the loaded question is
compelled to defend themselves and may appear flustered or on the back foot.
The burden of proof lies with someone who is making a claim, and is not upon
anyone else to disprove. The inability, or disinclination, to disprove a claim does
not make it valid (however we must always go by the best available evidence).
Politicians are often guilty of using ambiguity to mislead and will later point to
how they were technically not outright lying if they come under scrutiny.
It’s a particularly tricky and premeditated fallacy to commit.
Edward Johns claimed to be psychic, but when his ‘abilities’ were tested under
proper scientific conditions, they magically disappeared. Edward explained this
saying that one had to have faith in his abilities for them to work.
Grace and Helen were both romantically interested in Brad. One day, with
Brad sitting within earshot, Grace asked in an inquisitive tone whether Helen
was having any problems with a fungal infection.
Bertrand declares that a teapot is, at this very moment, in orbit around the
Sun between the Earth and Mars, and that because no one can prove him
wrong his claim is therefore a valid one.
When the judge asked the defendant why he hadn't paid his parking fines, he
said that he shouldn't have to pay them because the sign said 'Fine for parking
here' and so he naturally presumed that it would be fine to park there.
Believing that ‘runs’ occur to statistically independent
phenomena such as roulette wheel spins.
Appealing to popularity or the fact that many people do
something as an attempted form of validation.
Saying that because an authority thinks something,
it must therefore be true.
Assuming that what’s true about one part of something
has to be applied to all, or other, parts of it.
Making what could be called an appeal to purity as a way
to dismiss relevant criticisms or flaws of an argument.
Judging something good or bad on the basis of where it
comes from, or from whom it comes.
This commonly believed fallacy can be said to have helped create a city in the
desert of Nevada USA. Though the overall odds of a ‘big run’ happening may be
low, each spin of the wheel is itself entirely independent from the last.
The flaw in this argument is that the popularity of an idea has absolutely no
bearing on its validity. If it did, then the Earth would have made itself flat for
most of history to accommodate this popular belief.
Often when something is true for the part it does also apply to the whole, but
because this isn’t always the case it can’t be presumed to be true. We must
show evidence for why a consistency will exist.
This fallacy is often employed as a measure of last resort when a point has been
lost. Seeing that a criticism is valid, yet not wanting to admit it, new criteria are
invoked to dissociate oneself or one’s argument.
To appeal to prejudices surrounding something’s origin is another red herring
fallacy. This fallacy has the same function as an ad hominem, but applies
instead to perceptions surrounding something’s source or context.
Red had come up six times in a row on the roulette wheel, so Greg knew that
it was close to certain that black would be next up. Suffering an economic
form of natural selection with this thinking, he soon lost all of his savings.
Shamus pointed a drunken finger at Sean and asked him to explain how so
many people could believe in leprechauns if they’re only a silly old superstition.
Sean, however, had had a few too many Guinness himself and fell off his chair.
It’s important to note that this fallacy should not be used to dismiss the claims of
experts, or scientific consensus. Appeals to authority are not valid arguments, but
nor is it reasonable to disregard the claims of experts who have a demonstrated
depth of knowledge unless one has a similar level of understanding.
Not able to defend his position that evolution ‘isn’t true’ Bob says that he knows a
scientist who also questions evolution (and presumably isn’t herself a primate).
Daniel was a precocious child and had a liking for logic. He reasoned that
atoms are invisible, and that he was made of atoms and therefore invisible too.
Unfortunately, despite his thinky skills, he lost the game of hide and go seek.
Angus declares that Scotsmen do not put sugar on their porridge, to which
Lachlan points out that he is a Scotsman and puts sugar on his porridge.
Furious, like a true Scot, Angus yells that no true Scotsman sugars his porridge.
Accused on the 6 o’clock news of corruption and taking bribes, the senator
said that we should all be very wary of the things we hear in the media,
because we all know how very unreliable the media can be.
Where two alternative states are presented as the only
possibilities, when in fact more possibilities exist.
A circular argument in which the conclusion is included
in the premise.
Making the argument that because something is ‘natural’
it is therefore valid, justified, inevitable, good, or ideal.
Using personal experience or an isolated example instead
of a valid argument, especially to dismiss statistics.
Cherry-picking data clusters to suit an argument, or
finding a pattern to fit a presumption.
Saying that a compromise, or middle point, between two
extremes must be the truth.
Also known as the false dilemma, this insidious tactic has the appearance of
forming a logical argument, but under closer scrutiny it becomes evident that
there are more possibilities than the either/or choice that is presented.
This logically incoherent argument often arises in situations where people
have an assumption that is very ingrained, and therefore taken in their minds
as a given. Circular reasoning is bad mostly because it’s not very good.
Many ‘natural’ things are also considered ‘good’, and this can bias our thinking;
but naturalness itself doesn’t make something good or bad. For instance
murder could be seen as very natural, but that doesn’t mean it’s justifiable.
It’s often much easier for people to believe someone’s testimony as opposed to
understanding variation across a continuum. Scientific and statistical measures
are almost always more accurate than individual perceptions and experiences.
This ‘false cause’ fallacy is coined after a marksman shooting at barns and then
painting a bullseye target around the spot where the most bullet holes appear.
Clusters naturally appear by chance, and don’t necessarily indicate causation.
Much of the time the truth does indeed lie between two extreme points, but
this can bias our thinking: sometimes a thing is simply untrue and a
compromise of it is also untrue. Half way between truth and a lie, is still a lie.
Whilst rallying support for his plan to fundamentally undermine citizens’
rights, the Supreme Leader told the people they were either on his side, or on
the side of the enemy.
The word of Zorbo the Great is flawless and perfect. We know this because it
says so in The Great and Infallible Book of Zorbo’s Best and Most Truest
Things that are Definitely True and Should Not Ever Be Questioned.
The medicine man rolled into town on his bandwagon offering various
natural remedies, such as very special plain water. He said that it was only
natural that people should be wary of ‘artificial’ medicines like antibiotics.
Jason said that that was all cool and everything, but his grandfather smoked,
like, 30 cigarettes a day and lived until 97 - so don’t believe everything you read
about meta analyses of sound studies showing proven causal relationships.
The makers of Sugarette Candy Drinks point to research showing that of the
five countries where Sugarette drinks sell the most units, three of them are in
the top ten healthiest countries on Earth, therefore Sugarette drinks are healthy.
Holly said that vaccinations caused autism in children, but her scientifically
well-read friend Caleb said that this claim had been debunked and proven false.
Their friend Alice offered a compromise that vaccinations cause some autism.
A logical fallacy is a flaw in reasoning. Strong arguments are void of logical fallacies, whilst arguments that are weak tend to use logical fallacies to appear stronger than they are. They're like tricks or illusions of thought, and they're often very sneakily used by politicians, the media, and others to fool people.
Don’t be fooled! This poster has been designed to help you identify and call out dodgy logic wherever it may raise its ugly, incoherent head. If you see someone committing a logical fallacy online, link them to the relevant fallacy to school them in thinkiness e.g. yourlogicalfallacyis.com/strawman
This poster is published under a Creative Commons No Derivative Works license 2012 by Jesse Richardson. You are free to print, copy, and redistribute this artwork, with the binding proviso that you reproduce it in full so that others may share alike. This poster can be downloaded for free at the website.